Trial of men charged with 2011 Rockland murder to start next month

The murder trial of two men charged in the 2011 shooting death of a 36-year-old Rockland mother is expected to begin in Brockton Superior Court next month.

By Neal Simpson

The Taunton Daily Gazette, Taunton, MA

By Neal Simpson

Posted Apr. 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 27, 2013 at 9:52 PM

By Neal Simpson

Posted Apr. 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 27, 2013 at 9:52 PM

ROCKLAND

» Social News

As Tina Gonsalves crumpled to the floor in her living room, blood oozing from a bullet hole in her abdomen, police said her 11-year daughter got down on the floor beside her, holding her mother’s hand as she struggled to speak.

Investigators say Gonsalves, a 36-year-old Rockland mother who loved motorcycles and cooking, was armed with only an umbrella when she was fatally shot trying to fight off a man who had burst into her family’s Concord Street apartment early on July 8, 2011. She was pronounced dead at South Shore Hospital later that afternoon, leaving behind two sons and two daughters.

Prosecutors are now preparing for the murder trial of two men accused of planning the home invasion that ended with Gonsalves’s death. Orlando Kavanaugh, 29, is accused of shooting Gonsalves in the living room of her family’s apartment while Terrell Nicholas, 27, waited outside in a rented pickup truck.

The two men have been held in custody since they were arrested separately and indicted for murder and armed home invasion in 2011. Lawyers for both men said they expect their trial to begin May 29 in Brockton Superior Court.

Investigators say they believe Kavanaugh and Nicholas targeted the apartment at 50 Concord St. for a home invasion and that they had stopped by the home and flashed a gun at one of Gonsalves’s sons two days before the fatal shooting.

Police in court documents say Kavanaugh forced open a backdoor to the apartment around 7:30 a.m. on July 8, 2011, and stuck a hand gun against the neck of a 19-year-old sleeping on the living room couch. Police said Gonsalves ran into the room with an umbrella and began hitting Kavanaugh, who fired several rounds, hitting Gonsalves once in the abdomen.

Kavanaugh ran out of the house after he was shot in the shoulder by Gonsalves’s son, who had kept a gun under the couch where he had been sleeping, police said. Kavanaugh was later dropped off at the Brockton Hospital emergency room, where police questioned him immediately after the shooting.

Kavanaugh was arraigned two days later in a hospital bed at Tufts Medical Center, but police were not immediately able to locate Nicholas, who was linked to the shooting after investigators tracked the license plate of the truck seen leaving the apartment to a 2011 Dodge Ram that had been rented to him, according to court documents. Police also seized cell phones at Brockton Hospital that they said showed Nicholas and Kavanaugh discussing their plans for the home invasion.

In one exchange, Kavanaugh is alleged to have asked, “when we moving?” Nicholas allegedly replied, “like @sunrise b4 the crackers get up” followed by, “or we can do it sooner!”

The men are being tried together over the objection of David Sorrenti, a Brockton attorney representing Nicholas. In a motion filed in February, Sorrenti argued that the defenses of the two suspects are “irreconcilable” and “antagonistic,” in part because Nicholas was not seen at Gonsalves’ apartment the night of the shooting. The motion to separate the cases was denied by Judge Richard Chin, but Sorrenti said he is likely to raise the issue again as the trial proceeds.

Page 2 of 2 - “It’s all about giving each defendant a fair trial and that’s what we hope will happen,” he said.

Kavanaugh’s attorney, Robert Griffin, also filed motions last year to suppress statements his client made at Brockton Hospital before his arrest and information from cell phones seized at the hospital. Both motions were denied by Judge Joseph Walker in late December.